David Artell has praised his number one goalkeeper Ben Garratt after his stunning saves in the local derby against Port Vale kept us in the game. Garratt was finally beaten by Tom Pope’s winning goal with 12 minutes to go to condemn Crewe to a second successive defeat.

Artell hailed Garratt as the ‘best player on the pitch’ in our 1-0 defeat.

The Crewe boss told the club’s official website: “Ben was the best player on the pitch and he made some very good saves to keep us in the game. He was finally beaten by a good strike from Tom (Pope) and he was our only player who didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.

“Ben gets the rough end of the stick sometimes because people look at his perceived weakness but he is a very good goalkeeper and he has won us matches and points this season.

“He has made some terrific saves and he did it again on Saturday at Port Vale. Of course, he has areas of his game to work on and he is still a relatively young goalkeeper. We have spoken about and worked on what he needs to improve on and he takes it on board and wants to improve.

“He was our best player on Saturday and he was terrific for us.”